In vitro proliferation of Lebanese Lemna minor and Lemna gibba on different nutrient media

This study aimed to assess the ability of two Lebanese duckweed species, (Lemna minor and L. gibba), to grow under in vitro conditions on three nutritive solutions, Murashige Skoog (MS), Schenk-Hildebrand (SH) and Algal Assay Procedure (AAP). Plant growth of both species, expressed as doubling time, differed significantly (p？<？.05) between the tested media with best results obtained on SH for L. minor after 7 days of culture and on AAP for L. gibba after 2.7 days for both species. Growth index was significantly higher (P？<？.05) for L. minor on SH reaching 41.6 after 21 days of culture whereas L. gibba exhibited its highest growth index of 15.51 on AAP. These results indicate the efficiency of SH and AAP media in promoting the vegetative proliferation of L. minor and L. gibba to further provide a good source of duckweed material for phytoremediation applications